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Over-exploitation of water resources, water regime modifications, water contamination, and a growing number of flood events – negative effects of which are amplified by climate change – are all issues that require harmonised, integrated actions from management authorities in countries that share river basins.

Groundwater constitutes the largest reservoir of freshwater in the world, accounting for over 97% of all freshwaters available on earth (excluding glaciers and ice caps). The remaining 3% is composed mainly of surface water (lakes, rivers, wetlands) and soil moisture. By incorporation into the Water Framework Directive (WFD), groundwater became part of an integrated water management system.

In response to the hazard of flooding, the ICPDR adopted the Action Programme for Sustainable Flood Prevention in the Danube River Basin at the ICPDR Ministerial Meeting on 13 December 2004. As a follow-up to this Action Programme, seventeen sub-basin flood action plans were published by the ICPDR in 2009.

17 flood action plans for all sub-basins in the Danube catchment area were prepared in 2009. They provide the first comprehensive overview of actions aiming to reduce flood risks that was ever prepared in Danube River Basin.